Just two weeks after Consumer Reports issued our Meat on Drugs report criticizing, among other things, USDA’s system for overseeing labels on meat and poultry products that are raised without antibiotics, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack sent a letter to Consumers Union indicating that the agency plans to establish a new standard and investigate the use of unapproved antibiotics claims currently made by some companies .

In March, as part of the research for Meat on Drugs, Consumer Reports deployed ‘secret shoppers’ to grocery stores around the country to look for meat raised without antibiotics, and take note of the wording on packages. Little did we expect to find over 20 variations in ‘no antibiotics’-type labels, several of which were unapproved for use by the USDA. (Read Full Article)